Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft is set to leave the International Space Station on Friday, July 12, after spending five and a half months delivering over 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific experiments, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo to NASA and its international partners.
This mission marks Northrop Grumman’s 20th commercial resupply mission to the space station for NASA.
Live coverage of the spacecraft’s departure will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Viewers can learn how to stream NASA TV through various platforms, including social media.
Flight controllers on the ground will use the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach Cygnus from the Unity module’s Earth-facing port and maneuver it into position for release at 7 a.m. NASA astronaut Mike Barratt will monitor Cygnus’ systems during its departure.
After unberthing, the Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment-2 (KREPE-2), stored inside Cygnus, will take measurements to demonstrate a thermal protection system for the spacecraft and its contents during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Cygnus, now filled with trash packed by the station crew, will be commanded to deorbit on Saturday, July 13. This will result in a controlled re-entry where the spacecraft will safely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
The Northrop Grumman spacecraft arrived at the space station on February 1, after being launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.–News Desk